COLOMBIA: FARC Leader Launches Candidacy For Country's Presidency

01/29/2018 - 14:37:00 (RTTNews)

(RTTNews) - The Revolutionary Alternative Force of the Common (FARC, former guerrilla group) launched its leader Rodrigo Londoño, alias Timochenko, as the party's candidate for the Colombian presidency. The announcement was made at the House of Culture of Ciudad Bolívar, in Bogotá.

The FARC also presented the candidates that should fill the ten seats reserved to the party in the Senate and House of Representatives. FARC's congressional bench is part of the peace agreement signed with the Colombian government in 2016.

"The FARC presents itself to elections to break with this logic in which politics is made to enrich few ones with the money of the people. The FARC arrives to inaugurate a new way of doing politics, with a policy that puts ordinary people in the focus of the state, "said Londoño in his speech.

"At the beginning of our process of reincorporation into civilian life and laying down our arms, we obtained the right to do politics with full guarantees of our life and freedom. Even so, persecution does not stop. We have 37 dead while more than 500 comrades are kept in prison, but we do not lower our arms. Difficulties will not deter that overwhelming force of the common," he said.

"From today, I am a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, I represent my party: the Revolutionary Alternative Force of the Common, and I am committed to leading that transitional government, which will create the conditions for the birth of a new Colombia," he concluded.

Colombia's presidential election will be held on May 27. The winning candidate must obtain half plus one of the total valid votes. Otherwise, there will be a second round June 17.